


Terrible Odds

by Valaxiom



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel (Borderlands) Lives, Angst, Bad Parent Handsome Jack (Borderlands), Borderlands 2 Mission: Where Angels Fear to Tread, But this game has been out since 2012, Eridium Addiction, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Rescue, Serious Injuries, Spoilers, so this should be common knowledge by now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27871866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valaxiom/pseuds/Valaxiom
Summary: "She'd ran through the numbers, and her calculations had concluded that the odds of survival were approximately 2.1%. Low enough to be a calculation error. The numbers had broken down like so:76.5% chance of immediately dying after being unplugged from her chamber.17.3% chance of dying within twenty-four hours due to Eridium withdrawal.4.1% chance of dying in the immediate aftermath due to a stray bullet or execution.And finally, the 2.1% of somehow surviving the bunker."---The Vault Hunters do not leave Angel behind.
Relationships: Angel/Gaige (Borderlands)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	Terrible Odds

**Author's Note:**

> So I always hated how the Vault Hunter just has to leave Angel behind after the big fight in the Bunker. I get that Lilith was CLEARLY in a bit of a rush, but it still makes me sad. I've played through Borderlands 2 at least six times, but this goddamn cut-scene always gets me good. Poor Angel. 
> 
> For the sake of this story's timeline, assume that the Vault Hunters got Angel out of her chamber just a moment before Handsome Jack showed up.

Angel crumpled to the ground as the purple tint that had defined her world for years wavered. She could hear yelling, and there were familiar voices-- the mechromancer and the commando, the psycho and the berserker, and the (free) sirens. Hands touched her skin for the first time in years and she would have let out a noise of pain if there had been air in her lungs to do so. It hurt. Being disconnected from the machine hurt, the trickling remnants of Eridium in her veins hurt, everything hurt. Angel shuddered against the cold metal floor and thought, hazily, of how long it had been since she had been outside.

"Axton, pass me your jacket, she's going into shock." Maya's firm voice sounded too close without the filters of Angel's implants. The solid, way-too-big leather jacket that was wrapped around her shoulders was agony.

A gentle hand laid against her neck became both a focal point for her pain and a distraction from it.

"Angel? Can you hear me?" That was Gaige. Angel liked Gaige the best because the two of them were closest in age, and Angel would have liked to be friends in another life. She was probably dying now; she'd ran through the numbers before this plan had been initiated, and her calculations had concluded that the odds of survival were approximately 2.1%. Low enough to be a calculation error. The numbers had broken down like so:

76.5% chance of immediately dying after being unplugged from her chamber.

17.3% chance of dying within twenty four hours due to Eridium withdrawal.

4.1% chance of dying in the immediate aftermath due to a stray bullet or execution. 

And finally, the 2.1% of somehow surviving the bunker.

Angel had accepted the odds with the same resignation that had defined her life in a cage. Laying on the ground, like a dove with broken wings, all she could do was struggle to breathe as the mechromancer and the blue siren hovered over her. She could hear them arguing about something, with Gaige protesting and Maya sounding insistent. 

"She's too weak! The strain on her body-"

"She'll die if I don't. We need to get her to Tannis and we need to stabilise her. It's our best option-"

Maya was cut off by the sound of a fast-travel arrival. Angel knew what that meant and it turned her Eridium-laced blood cold. Jack was here, and she free. She might die in the next few minutes, but she was out of her cage. But he'd put her back in the chamber and make her live, make her watch as he killed the only friends she'd ever made. She wanted to die more than she wanted to live as a slave. She couldn't warn anyone though, and if her breathing sped up at all, the others would likely just assume it was the inevitable shock setting in.

"You stupid, stupid bandits." Angel wanted to scream at them to _go,_ to leave her behind and escape... but there was also a tiny part of her crying _please don't leave me here_. "You killed my daughter, you monsters!"

Someone (Roland?) scooped her up effortlessly and moved her to the edge of the room. "Gaige, Zer0, get over here and protect her, I've got to help Lilith!" Roland placed her down as gently as he could, but the sudden motion had been nauseating, and the metal floor was agony. 

"On it!" 

"Defend the Siren/We shall endeavor to do/Go help the other!"

Angel couldn't move or speak, and the sounds of more fighting ricocheted around her chamber as she lay dazed on the ground. She heard Roland's gasp of pain and Lilith's grieved shriek. The sudden grasp of two hands on her shoulders was almost as stunning as the quiet voice that said: "Shhh, we're getting out of here. Don't struggle."

Maya's tattoos lit up as she phaselocked the other dying siren. The last thing Angel heard was Lilith's angry roar, and Gaige's yelp of alarm.

Angel passed out and it was a mercy.

* * *

The Vault Hunters spilled into Marcus' back room and the first thing Maya did was check to make sure that her passenger had been picked up by Lilith's frantic phaseblast. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Angel's still-frozen form. She then shoved Krieg and Axton out of the way and stormed through the store, ignoring a sputtering Marcus.

"Move!" She barked, heading for Tannis' lab. Holding a phaselock for this long, even over a relatively small and unresisting target, was exhausting. By the time Maya made it to the HQ, she was drained. She barely managed to land Angel on a clean-looking surface before she collapsed against the wall. Gaige had darted ahead to warn the doctor, who was grimly prepping several frightening syringes.

"How long has she been without Eridium?" asked Tannis.

"About twenty minutes," Gaige said. "But Maya had her frozen for five, if that helps." 

Tannis grunted, selecting a syringe that looked like it was half Eridium and half Insta-Health fluid. It was magenta coloured and glowing slightly. "I'll have to fill an IV with Eridium- where's Lilith?"

"Jack took her and killed Roland," Axton said hollowly. 

"What."

Angel twitched on the table and suddenly began seizing. Axton and Gaige pinned her down as Tannis tried to find a vein. Maya watched as the doctor succeeded, injecting a potent cocktail of sedatives and Eridium into a too-thin arm. Angel's struggles weakened before finally petering out. Her breathing was frightening loud. Maya could have sworn she could hear the beating of the girl's heart. Gaige looked scared but was holding Angel's hand determinedly. Axton looked years older. Maya was dead on her feet, but staggered over and tried to heal some of the external damage, especially the oozing, jagged holes where wires had been torn out of skin.

"What do you mean, Roland's dead?" Tannis snapped. 

"Handsome Jack shot him in the back, like a coward," said Gaige bitterly. 

"And Lilith?"

"Jack put some kinda anti-siren-power collar on her, but she still managed to teleport us back here." Gaige's voice wobbled ever-so-slightly, and Maya tried not to think of how young the other Vault Hunter was. Of how young Angel was. 

Instead, Maya focused on healing Angel. The teenager - still a child, really - was thin as a twig and looked about as brittle. There was blood around the ports, and a multitude of small cuts and bruises across her bone-white skin. The most dangerous injuries were all internal though. The siren was clearly reliant on Eridium to stay alive, and her body eagerly siphoned up Maya's healing. Despite the amount of healing Maya poured in, there was no noticeable improvement in Angel's condition.

Maya only stopped trying when Tannis pulled her away. She was too weak to protest as Salvador and Zer0 led her to a cot, Sal rumbling reassuring platitudes in Spanish, and Zer0's display reading ":(". She passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably a oneshot, but if there's interest I might continue the story! My poor cyborg siren, she deserved better.
> 
> (Also, I hate writing haikus)


End file.
